Coree

Large, detailed map of the Korean Peninsula north of the 36th parallel. The first geographical advance on the peninsula since D’Anville’s map of 1737.

In 1737, D’Anville published the first map of the Kingdom of Korea in an European atlas. Its shape and detail was based on information collected and compiled by the Jesuit Mission accompanying the Kangxi Emperor on his military campaigns in northern China.

This current map was issued in Philippe Vandermaelen’s “Atlas Universel”, the first time the world was mapped on the same scale. This specific sheet focusing on Korea was part of a much larger map of Asia, which in turn would form an enormous map designed to be joined as a globe. Vandermaelen’s version of Korea is very different than D’Anville’s, with the peninsula having a much slimmer shape. The interior detail is also far sparser, as it was impossible for Europeans to corroborate the names and placement of any settlements within the Peninsula.

The coastal detail on this map is provided by several marine voyages although it is impossible to specify their nature with one exception. On the western coast is a short route attributed to H.M.S. Alceste and Lyra in 1816; this is a reference to Lord Armherst’s Embassy to China when he sent both of his ships to survey the north coast of China and the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. Several other routes are marked of unidentified voyages both on the north coast of China and the east coast of Korea. One of these we have identified as the voyage of the Comte de la Perouse while the naming of the island of Argonaut, modern Ulleungdo, on the east coast of Korea identifies that route as the voyage of the English explorer James Colnett, who later was involved in the famous Nootka Incident which almost precipitated a war between Great Britain and Spain.  

One final point of great interest is the nomenclature of a large settlement, “King-Ki-Tao” which is approximately in the same region as modern Seoul.

A fascinating early European cartographic perception of the Korean Peninsula. Original colour. [SEAS5468]